Petrolia’s Milah-Rose Jamieson has nabbed a third-place prize in the national Plasticurious video contest in her age category.

The 15-year-old LCCVI student created a video, called “Plastic in Canada’s 150”, that detailed the many every day uses of plastic, and why recycling is important to the environment.

Jamieson, who hopes to one day have a career in healthcare, said that she wanted to highlight every day uses of plastic, including products that are kept in plastic in your fridge. She said before creating her submission, she wasn’t aware of all the uses of plastic.

“I thought it would be a cool way to think about plastic, and I learned a lot,” she said. “I thought it was a good way to learn and be creative with it.”

Jamieson visited ReVital Polymer in Sarnia, where Chief Commercial Officer Keith Bechard presented her with a plaque and cupcakes. He took Jamieson and her father on a tour of the Sarnia based plant, which has been in operation since last year.

Bechard showed them the state of the art technology that sorts and converts plastic containers from recycling programs into discrete resin types, which are designed for customer end-use applications, including new plastic bottles and auto parts.

Bechard said the video contest is a great way to raise awareness of young people when it comes to the plastics industry, as well as remind Canadians that plastic contributes to their every day quality of life.

“It also raises the awareness of people who are able to see the young people produce the videos, it just reminds us of how clever these people are, and their capability to make change” he said.

Bechard said he was very impressed with Jamieson’s video creation, especially the emphasis on recycling. He noted that plastic helps to keep food fresh, and has less impact on the environment than paper or glass, so long as they are used responsibly, including proper management at their end of life.

“Her perception of the industry and how we treat plastics, why they’re valuable to use and what the outcomes are…I thought it was just spot on,” he said. “If you manage the resource we’re able to reprocess plastics again and again and again…it’s truly a phenomenal packaging medium.”

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association launched the contest in 2017, announcing eight winners across the country. Jamieson was the only winner located in Southwestern Ontario, with other winning submissions coming from Vancouver, Barrie, Mississauga, Bramptom and Sherwood Park, Alberta.

CPIA will be announcing the details for the second annual Plasticurious video contest this spring.